Ours
by Stun04
Summary: Ensemble Piece with Jate. Jack is taken by the Others the other survivors are left to deal with the loss of their leader.


This is another Jate one shot. Jack is taken by The Others and the rest of the survivors deal with the loss of their hero. Plus Shannon is alive and Michael and Walt are back with the group because hey in my world I can do what I want, at least that's what I tell myself. Please read and review

**Ours **

He was gone. This was the thought running through the survivors minds as they were all gathered in the caves listening as Sayid told them that their leader was gone. Not dead but missing, completely missing. They had scoured the island but here it was four weeks later and there was no sign of him. It was if he had never been on the island at all. The hopelessness that eased into everyone's chest the first couple days of the searching now was settled in the pits of their stomachs like a heavy weight. After Sayid had finished everyone seemed reluctant to leave the shelter of the caves. Mr. Eko had offered to do hatch duty. He felt bad that Jack was gone, but he didn't really know him. He figured that it wouldn't be fair to ask people who knew Jack to do something as mundane as press a button. They needed to grieve and they needed to do it together.

A large group sat around a fire in the middle of the caves. They were exhausted from searching but couldn't fathom going to sleep, not yet anyway. Among the group was Charlie, Claire, Sun, Jin, Sawyer, Sayid, Shannon, Michael, Walt, Hurley, Locke, and Kate. It was hard to look at Kate she just sat with a blank expression, staring at the flames as if they held the answers to the world's questions. This was the group, the merry band of adventurers as the late Artz had referred to them. Except now they were missing one, and there wasn't a single person who didn't feel the loss.

The caves were relatively silent besides the few random sniffles heard throughout the group. Every place in the caves was taken up except one, Jack's place. No one touched his stuff, it was left because to move it would meant to accept the truth, he was gone and not coming back. Not even Sawyer tried to take anything.

"He was the first person I saw." The silence was interrupted by the small voice belonging to Claire. Everyone glanced at her curiously, everyone except Kate who remained focused on the fire. "I mean I saw people but he was the first person that I actually focused on. I was so scared I was having contractions and then out of nowhere he appeared. He was a complete stranger but when he told me I was going to be ok I believed him. He was so nice to me and kept checking on me. I remember thinking that no doctors at home had ever been so nice. He never made me feel stupid when I would ask him to check up on Aaron for the 20th time in a row. He was so good with Aaron" with that Claire burst into tears and leaned her head on Charlie's shoulder.

Everyone sat for a second and it was if a floodgate had been opened. Shannon spoke up next. "He made me breathe" she said softly. "I was having an asthma attack and I had no inhalers. He made me focus and catch my breath. I was panicking and I was so scared but he stayed with me and wouldn't let me give into the fear. I was never used to people treating me like that. Probably because I never treated people well to begin with, but not Jack he didn't care that I was a selfish brat, he just cared." Sayid squeezed her shoulder gently.

"He didn't want to be the leader." Locke said with a slight chuckle. "Do you remember the day the water ran out and Jack disappeared? I was looking for water myself when I found him hanging off the side of a cliff hanging on to a vine." He received some startled glances; it seemed Jack never told anyone of his brush with death. "Anyway, when I pulled him up and we were sitting there the first thing he asked was how everyone was doing. It was like the fact that he nearly just died didn't even matter, he was worried about everyone else. I told him that we needed someone to lead us and he gave me this incredulous look like how could I even think of him as a leader. He said he would fail and that he wasn't strong enough. He always doubted himself and yet he always came through for us, we had fresh water the next day."

"Doc loved giving those damn inspirational speeches." Sawyer said shaking his head. Kate visibly tensed at the sound of Sawyer's voice as if she waited for him to say something bad. "I swear it didn't matter what he said but it worked. He could stand up and talk about the weather in Spain and everyone would hang on his every sentence. He could calm everyone down with just a couple words. I guess that's why he was such a good doctor."

"I thought he was gonna kick my ass when I built the golf course." Hurley said laughing. "He told me his only concern was keeping everyone alive. What kind of concern is that? I mean the dude was seriously running himself ragged. I never really said anything but I kinda built the course for him, you know kinda like a thanks for everything he was doing." Hurley said.

"He had a wicked sense of humor" Michael said. Walt had fallen asleep with his head in Michael's lap as his father gently stroked his hair. "I really never expected it because he was so damn serious all the time. But when we were playing golf it was like he was able to be himself even if it was just for a little while. I thought he was gonna beat Sullivan with his club when he interrupted our game. It was a good time; he smiled a lot that day."

A couple of the people chuckled remembering Jack making jokes and teasing Charlie and Hurley during their golfing shenanigans. Charlie looked up from the fire and gently caressed Claire's hair. "The day we looked for the cockpit when the pilot got ripped out we all took off, running as fast as we bloody could. I got my foot stuck in a root and that thing was right behind me I was sure I was dead. Jack came back for me though, he didn't even know me but he came back. He got my foot out and told me to run. I was never the best person but he never gave up on me, with quitting drugs, or hell even dying. I mean Jesus he brought me back from the dead." Charlie sighed and he bowed his head as a tear slipped out.

"I found him kneeling in the sand with no shirt on." everyone glanced up as Kate spoke for the first time in hours. "I had just stumbled out of the bushes and I was so confused. So there I am and I hear this voice ask me if I know how to use a needle. A needle? What the hell is a half naked guy asking me about a needle for? I was pretty sure I heard him wrong and then he asked me if I ever patched a pair of jeans. Now at this point I feel like I'm stuck in Monty Python sketch." Kate let out a tiny smile when she heard Claire giggle quietly.

"So I tell him I made the drapes in my apartment and he was so happy and asked for help. Now I'm thinking he has to be in shock or he's the world's biggest jerk because we were just in a plane crash and he's worried that he tore his clothes or something. And then as if it's nothing he shows me this horrible gash along his back and side, and it was bad he was bleeding all over. It dawns on me he wants me to sew him up. He apologizes to me because he says he's a doctor and he'd do it himself but he couldn't reach it. Like it was his fault or something that a horrible gash was beyond his reach. I nearly started bawling right there I mean I had never sewed a person before, but he was so nice and calm and when he asked for help I couldn't say no. So I'm stitching him up trying not to throw up on him and he's talking to me trying to make me feel better. I'm inflicting horrible pain on him and he's trying to make me feel better." Kate said her voice wavering slightly.

"When we got back to the beach he starts talking to people and checking up on them and it hits me, he's already helped some of them. He had been running around the beach helping people while the whole time he was injured himself. He would always do that and it would make me so mad. He never took care of himself; he was always too busy helping someone else. He would wear himself down to the point of pure exhaustion and it would kill me to see him like that. When Boone passed away Jack had given him his blood and refused to sleep. I actually drugged him to make him rest. He wasn't mad though in fact he laughed like he found it amusing. He could be so forgiving and God knows I pushed his limits a lot. He told me we all were allowed second chances and a new life when we landed here. Well where the hell was his second chance huh?" Kate asked her voice rising. Sensing her anger Sun placed her hand gently on Kate's arm, but she shook it off. "No, it's not fair from the moment we landed he had to be a doctor. His father died, did you know that? His father died and he had to leave the camp because he wasn't allowed two minutes of peace to grieve because we were constantly asking him to fix things. Well what about him? Everyone else got to live a new life but not him, no he chose to help when he could have walked away. He helped us and he healed us and he cared for us! He was ours, he landed here with us, he shared his laughter, his concerns, his life with us. Do you hear me?" she screamed towards the jungle. "He's not yours to take he's ours…he's mine" Kate cried and slowly sank into Sun's embrace. "I want Jack" Kate sobbed into Sun's shoulder.

Nobody knew quite what to say. It was a selfish thought but it was true they all felt like Jack was theirs he had shared moments with all of them and how dare The Others take that from them. The rest of the night the group just sat quietly by the fire, people would cry quietly but no more words were spoken. What could you really say about a fallen hero anyways?

Ok there it is I was thinking about doing a sequel of Jack coming back so let me know if anyone would be interested in it. Thanks for reading and please review.


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